How did your love of curated vintage begin? How did your experience in luxury wholesale lead you to the world of sustainable fashion?
When I first started Select Vintage in 2021, I had been working in luxury wholesale for 10 years. Naturally, I was exposed to many different collections and fabrics on a daily basis, which fed into my love for sourcing the best garments and led me to build up a serious collection of items in my own wardrobe. I’d always been drawn to vintage because every piece is so special and one-of-a-kind. But especially after seeing the amount of waste in the fashion industry through my career, I knew there had to be a better way forward—and that vintage was actually an incredible solution to keep garments in rotation and promote a circular fashion system. I started out by selling some of my favorite vintage finds from my own closet, and am so excited by what we’ve been able to scale the business into over just three years.
Tell us about your curated vintage company, Select Vintage!
Select Vintage is all about hyper-curated, timeless vintage essentials. Our assortment features everything from elevated basics like suiting and button-ups to statement pieces, designer bags, and our latest addition—art and home decor. But what ties everything together is a heavy focus on high quality, neutrals, and not chasing trends. We want every piece you shop from us to stay in your closet for many years to come.
We get that sometimes shopping secondhand can be overwhelming, so our goal is also to make vintage (and shopping sustainably!) accessible to everyone—even newcomers—through our curated assortment and competitive prices.
What’s your favorite part about the New York sustainable and vintage fashion community?
One of my favorite aspects of our business is the incredible community. We like to go a step further and engage in open dialogue with our customers on Instagram. I try on most of our pieces myself on Stories and love chatting in DMs with our followers to answer fit questions, make recommendations, and help them track down any specific items they’ve been looking for. Some of my customers have been following the brand since we first launched and truly feel like my friends at this point. I love how close the community can be, and can’t wait to see it grow even more!
I will also add—there is really something special about New York vintage in particular. So another one of our goals with selling online is to offer the best of NYC’s vintage selection to people all around the country and beyond. We want to bring the best of what the city has to offer to vintage lovers everywhere!
How does having your DUMBO showroom help you connect to customers?
We were so excited to re-open our showroom earlier this fall to connect with our customers IRL. We sell mostly on Instagram and online, but always made a point to pop up at physical locations throughout the year as a special treat for our community. The lines would always be out the door so we knew the appetite for shopping in person was there. Now customers can book appointments via our site or come to our public shopping hours on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It’s always so great to see our community in person and connect on a whole other level when they come by the space.
We know you can't spill all of your secrets...but can you tell us where your favorite type of place to source for Select Vintage is? (i.e. flea markets, estate sales, thrift shops, etc.)
The best sourcing journeys are always so unexpected. There are so many people who have been collectors of a specific category for years and years—I’ve even met some who have been doing it since the 60’s. Almost like a time capsule. They want to share their collection with the world and work with sellers like me to match their treasures to a new owner and give them a new life. Of course I love a good classic thrift shop too (especially the ones that are non-profits). If you show me a big pile of mysterious clothing I will go through it! Flea markets in Paris are probably my top pick for sourcing quality and pieces I could’ve never imagined finding.
Follow along:
www.selectvintage.com
@selectvintagenyc